Laura Morett is a 39-year-old Hawaiian mother, wife of 21 years and also a grandmother. Her beauty is complimented by the fact that one of her occupations is fitness instructor, which helps her stay in shape and gives her the energy to keep up with her three kids and two-year-old grandchild. When she is not spending time with her family, working out or riding her Harley, this conservative Christian is running the lobby message center at the Oregon State Capitol building for over 400 lobbyists.

Similar religious and political beliefs, as well as the fact that her daughter had a child at 18, has Laura referring to herself as a, “fit version of Sarah Palin.” Laura enjoys listening to Christian music and is studying women’s ministry. In addition, Laura counsels couples in her church based on her experiences in a long-lasting marriage with a man she describes as her other half.

Determined and competitive, she freely admits that she wants to win SURVIVOR for the money but in doing so claims that she would never do anything to compromise her faith to get it.

Currently, Laura resides in Salem, Ore. and her birthday is July 30th.

I thought she looked fierce when I first saw her picture, but the fact that she said she'll not compromise her faith makes me like her. A pre-show favourite for now! And I was shocked when she mentioned that she's a grandmother. She's only 39! Gasp.

You can't say she didn't try. Survivor: Samoa's Laura Morett saved herself from the chopping block multiple times by winning the past two immunity necklaces. Thanks to strong alliances and a tough competitive spirit, she seemed poised to go far in the game. This week, however, the elimination vote tied for the first time — five for Laura and five for Natalie — and made the rare Survivor move of going to the rocks to determine who would go home a very distinct possibility. On the second round of votes, Russell again proved himself one of the most aggressive players this season by convincing former Galu tribe member John to vote for Laura and break the tie. Following a vote that even left host Jeff Probst stunned, TVGuide.com talked with Morett, 39, about why John flipped, her bad blood with Shambo and the alliance you didn't see on TV.

TVGuide.com: Can you talk about your emotions after the vote?Laura Morett: I think more than shock, it was just utter disappointment that somebody flipped. That now we lost our numbers ... there goes our lead. We're not dumb, we can do the math and we know we lost one more. They have the numbers. It was more like, "Oh, no. Now what?"

TVGuide.com: Did you ever think that someone was going to switch their vote in the second round and not force you guys to go to the rocks?Laura: I knew that John would flip because [after] Monica went to put the whole plan in play about voting for John, I saw my name twice [at tribal council]. I knew that John was gunning for me ... It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he's going to be the first flipping over and writing my name down. I was pretty much preparing my good-bye speech the first time I saw my two names come up.

TVGuide.com: Why do you think John flipped? Survival instinct or something more personal?Laura: I hope it wasn't personal. If it was personal, I hope that it was personal because he thought I was a big threat. I think that he was really worried about me and Monica, we had a tight alliance. I know that's crazy because it's only two girls but he was really paranoid about that and it was an opportunity to get rid of me.

TVGuide.com: How difficult was it to find out that your name was up for elimination so many times before?Laura: I knew because Brett and I had a really tight alliance. He would tell me when John and Erik would bring my name up in discussions. I knew everything because Brett would tell me. When I got sent over to Foa Foa and I came back and it was that fishing challenge, with the hooks and the puzzle? Right when I stepped back on my mat, Brett leans over and in my ear goes, "Lola — that's my Hawaiian name — they want to throw the challenge and vote you out." I was like, "What?!"

TVGuide.com: Why do you think Shambo and you had such tension for so long? What was the source of that animosity?Laura: It's frustrating to watch it because I was portrayed as the mean girl. But I would just like to say, did you ever, ever see me do one thing mean to her? I never did ... She came after me.

TVGuide.com: Do you think you ever would have been able to change her mind or change her vote?Laura: I don't think so ... She loved Brett and she didn't know that Brett and I are really tight. When he went to her [to try to change her mind], he's heartbroken because she based her [decisions] on feeling and emotion. When somebody is in that emotion, it's hard for them to stand back and think this through. If we do this what will happen? Brett tried.

TVGuide.com: Can you talk about earlier in the show when you and Dave were chasing Russell and Jaison in the jungle to prevent them from finding another immunity idol?Laura: It was so funny, when you have Russell, this 3-foot-tall little man jumping and bobbing and weaving through the jungle. Then, you have Dave, this tall lanky guy. It was a fun thing because they were kind of laughing and joking with each other. Russell would be like, "Come on, Dave! Keep up!" I was tailing Jaison and I obviously got the better end of the deal because Jaison does not like to move fast. You see me just walking behind him and sitting on a rock and then you see Dave and Russell just ripping through the jungle. It was hilarious.

TVGuide.com: Who would you like to see make it to the end?Laura: Even though me and Monica were really right, so were Brett and I. I think that Monica has a huge target because she was my — in their eyes — other half. It's hard to say because she's not weak but she wasn't as much the physical threat that I was. They might think, "Oh, she's going to be good now. She's going to behave." I hope that Brett does really [well]. He's good, he's smart, he's kind. I'm rooting for him.

I think Jodi mentioned that Laura was suppose to be her partner on your season Luke. I'll see if I could dig it up or we could ask her?

Found it Luke

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I just checked out the new Survivors. My friend Laura is on the cast so root for her! She was my original partner for The Amazing Race but I guess everything happens for a reason. Give her lots of support out there. We have been friends since we were 16 and she is an amazing person. I'm so excited for her!!August 27 at 6:10pm · Comment · Like

I think she just got a bad edit. They have to give Russell/Shambo/Natalie & others in Foa Foa a good edit if they went further than her. And since Foa Foa are the underdogs and people love rooting for underdogs, that makes her edit even worst because people would love to hate her for obvious reasons that she is set to vote out everyone in Foa Foa.

I don't really like her, but that doesn't mean i love Shambo either. If you let me choose who'll i'll take on a dinner date, i'll take Laura anyday.

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"The Amazing Race shows the best and worst out of you. But if only negative things are shown, then it's probably you. - Jobby"

A bad edit?/ I think she was shown consistently as a strong, strategic, loyal and competitve woman, a true game player I think she rocked and wish we could have seen her go further. She is exactly the kind of competitor I like to watch, I think she would have been great on TAR as well!

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A bad edit?/ I think she was shown consistently as a strong, strategic, loyal and competitve woman, a true game player I think she rocked and wish we could have seen her go further. She is exactly the kind of competitor I like to watch, I think she would have been great on TAR as well!

I agree totally with you. But you can't deny that many people didn't like her because she was perceived as "evil" for wanting to get out the Foa Foas... i don't think there's anything wrong with that though...

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"The Amazing Race shows the best and worst out of you. But if only negative things are shown, then it's probably you. - Jobby"

Laura Morett was the 11th person to leave "Survivor: Samoa." She tells us regarding John's flip, "the fact that he even voted for Natalie the first time" surprised her.

What were you up to before Survivor?Before I left, I was working down at our state capital [Ed's note: Oregon] for our legislative session. I run the office our lobbyists work out of so every other year for six months I work down there. And I was a mom.

Are you back doing that? Did "Survivor" change your plans at all?Well, legislative session ended in June, but yeah I'm back to being mom and grandma and I'm a student, I go to Liberty University. I do the courses online. Back to being the taxi driver, the baker, and the wife. I have a great granddaughter, Layla, she's two-and-a-half years old.

So tell us about last night's episode. Were you surprised by the initial tie?Yes and no. I was surprise because I really didn't think that John would've even stayed loyal the first round so the fact that he even voted for Natalie the first time really surprised me. Then the minute that they read my name twice, I knew that Monica and Brett and Dave's plan to use John as the decoy didn't work and when they read Natalie's name 5 times, I was surprised that John stayed true for the first vote.

So you knew John was the person who flipped, even before last night?Yeah. I knew John was coming after me, even back when Russell Swan was in the game. What people don't know is that Brett and I have a really tight alliance. I knew his family from my church, so Brett and I are tight. So the Galu foursome we're talking about [Ed's note: The four men], Brett would tell me what was going on, so I knew that John was really threatened by me and Monica's alliance, he wanted me out. It was win-win in John's eyes because he's finally getting me out but he's not spearheading the "Let's get Laura out" movement.

So did you know Brett before "Survivor?"[Ed's note: Laura was not allowed to answer this question]

Before you saw last night's episode, did you know Russell found the Idol a third time?We didn't actually witness him finding it, but we pretty much knew. You saw the whole cat-and-mouse chase through the jungle. I would say that lasted about an hour and the next thing we saw was him in the hammock, just hanging out. He practically had the mouse's tale hanging out of his mouth.

Who do you think is playing the best game?I think Brett was playing a good game, I think that Russell was playing a strong game. He was playing a very, very aggressive game. I didn't necessarily like that, that's not how I played, but I knew he was playing an aggressive game. Brett is very likable, he's a great guy, so I knew that he had potential and I was rooting for Brett.

At the time, you were pretty mad about Russell and the Idol being played to get Kelly out, but is it fun to watch on TV now that you're home or are you still mad?It's fun to watch it on TV. It sucks that I lost, but I'm not a bitter person. I'm a competitor. I'm big enough to stick my hand out and say "well played" and it was well played by Russell.

It sucked, I loved Kelly and to have that happen to her... so unfair. To turn around and slap somebody, and to have it be Kelly, it really hurt to have that happen. So in that aspect it was not fun at all, but it's fun watching the show. Like I said, I'm not a poor sport, I'm not a sore loser and that was good play.

Did you ever repair things with Shambo? I did apologize to her when the show was over and we were done filming. I said, "Shambo, if there was something I did that made you feel like I was being mean to you or isolating you, I never did it intentionally. I'm sorry if I did something that made you feel that way." Whether she accepted, I don't know, but I went to her and told her I was sorry. I can't change how someone feels about me.

Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to share?I think that any time you go onto a reality show you put it in the editor's hands how you're being portrayed. And the one thing I'd like to say is that I'm not a mean person, I'm not evil-spirited and I would challenge anyone to tell me one thing I did that was mean to Shambo, that was evil-spirited. I never did anything to her because if I did CBS would've showed it.

Just because Shambo said it doesn't make it true. It's hard to watch that. My friends and family know and the people on the island know that she isolated herself, played this victim role and then pointed her finger at me. It hurts my heart to think that somebody would think I did that to them. Hopefully the viewers will see that I didn't pick on her, I wasn't mean to her. I'm sorry if there was something I did that made her feel that way but it wasn't ever intentional.